Correction to G1289

2000 HRS Core (Final Release, Version 1.0)

09/10/02

In the health status respondent-level data file (H00_B) of the Final Core Data Release Version 1.0,
variable G1289 has a data error. This is related to an error in 1998 for F1156.
Specifically, there were a number of AHEAD respondents who reported having heart disease in 1993 or 1995
(and had not disputed the report as of 1995), who were miscoded on the 1998 preload variable for heart
disease, F234 (i.e., coded 0 instead of 1 on F234).

The heart disease preload variable is what determines which version of the heart disease question (B7)
is asked in the current wave. Those coded 1 on the preload variable are simply asked to confirm their
prior report of heart disease:

Our records from your last interview in (date) show that you had
a heart problem.

Unless the R disputes this, the interviewer keys a value of 1 indicating that R still has heart disease.

Those coded 0 on the preload variable are instead asked this version of the question:

Since your last interview in (date), has a doctor told you that
you have had a heart attack, have coronary heart disease, angina,
congestive heart failure, or other heart problems?

In 1998 if the R said no to this question, s/he was coded 5 on F1156 and asked the incorrect version of
the B7 question in 2000 (G1289) as well.

To deal with this error, we recommend that the analyst create a new variable, G1289R, for which the 279
respondents who reported having heart disease in 1993 or 1995 and who answered "No" to G1289 in 2000
are assigned a value of 6. The variables used for this recode are D828 (heart disease status in 1995) and
F234 (1998 preload for heart disease).
Sample SAS code is provided below. You will want to provide equivalent statements if you are using another
statistical software package. 279 cases will change from 5 on G1289 to 6 on G1289R. Frequencies before and after the
correction are listed below.

Note that this recode will result in a slight overestimate of the number and percent of respondents with heart
disease in 2000, because if the 279 respondents had been asked to confirm their prior heart disease, some of
them might have disputed it.

If you are interested in using the heart condition follow-up questions in any of your analyses, these
are our recommendations: It is unlikely that respondents who had heart disease in the past but no
incident report between 1995 and 1998 would respond "Yes" to follow-up questions B7d, B7i, B7kb, B7p, and B7q.
Thus, respondents with a value of 6 on G1289 can be assigned values of 5 on G1295, G1301, G1304, G1307, and
G1308). We do not recommend recoding any of the other follow-up question variables, as it less clear how
respondents would have answered those questions.